Intercultural elements in the national curriculum

Hrvatić, Neven and Sablić, Marija. (2008). Intercultural elements in the national curriculum. Pedagogijska istraživanja, 5(2). pp. 197-208. ISSN 1334-7888

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Abstract

Intercultural child rearing and education involving intercultural learning is comprised of a great deal more than a simple awareness of differences. It is a fact that we are all in many ways different from one another. Intercultural learning means intercultural society operating in the framework of intercultural learning in which competences are built on openness, respect and a feeling of acceptance. A multicultural environment is one of the crucial factors in the structuring of a national curriculum. Essential components of the curriculum also correspond to the intercultural predispositions of the students. The right to being different contributes to having equal opportunities and prepares for co-existence in a democratic society. Intercultural curriculum is built on the students’ experiences, knowledge, aptitudes, abilities, values and attitudes and involves several complementary features: cultural (ability to communicate interculturally on local, national and international level), social (interactions in the process of practicing human rights, individual and social responsibility and social justice – family functions, stimulating cooperation, taking part in public life), economic (training students for different work roles and responsible consumption), and environmental (preparation for making strategic decisions towards sustainable development). Approach to the curriculum presumes a process which is subject to constant change, in keeping with the post-modern orientation of open education, where school is not only a place to learn about interculturalism but a place of permanent ‘education’ in co-existence, cooperation, tolerance and equality, and with equal participation by students, teachers, parents and the environment. An intercultural curriculum should therefore be conceived to promote self-knowledge, then knowledge of others, the discovery of similarities and differences, and an awareness of prejudices, all leading to cooperation and realization of common goals.

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